INVESTIGATION: Convicted Sex Offender Lives Near Home for Battered Women
Thursday, July 31, 2014
A home for battered women in Woonsocket is located just a few doors down the street from a convicted sex offender who molested a teenage girl and a young boy, a GoLocalProv investigation has found.
The sex offender’s residence is located approximately 500 feet from the home determined by a review of city property records, state sex offender records, and Google Maps. The home is owned by Sojourner House, a Rhode Island agency whose mission is to care for and shelter women who are victims of domestic violence and their children.
“I find it very troubling,” said Carolyn Medeiros, a victims advocate and executive director of the Alliance for Safe Communities.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
“There certainly shouldn’t be a pedophile in close proximity to a women’s shelter,” Medeiros said.
In Rhode Island, as other states, there are laws barring convicted sex offenders from living near schools. Here, the buffer zone is just 300 feet. But buffers in other states generally range between 500 and 2,500 feet, according to the American Bar Association. The sex offender buffer laws of other states typically apply to schools, parks, daycare centers, or bus stops, according to the ABA. In Rhode Island, the law only deals with schools.
Sojourner House purchased the home in 2008, the same year the now-convicted sex offender was arrested and charged with second-degree child molestation. In 2012, he pled no contest to two counts of second-degree child molestation and received 10-year suspended sentences. He also has previously pled no contest two charges of felony assault with a dangerous weapon or substance and breaking and entering, state court records show.
GoLocalProv has previously revealed that the purchase of the home was a violation of federal grant regulations and that the agency was under investigation for financial mismanagement and potential fraud by three federal agencies—the FBI, the Inspector General, and the Justice Department’s Office of Violence Against Women. The agency was ultimately cleared of fraud but federal investigators found evidence of unauthorized spending and other violations of federal grant regulations.
Sojourner House fired its previous executive director, obtained a grant from a state agency to pay off the mortgage on the home, and has been under new leadership since spring 2011.
But Sojourner House was allowed to keep the home. Because disclosure of the home’s location could undermine the safety of the women who reside there, GoLocalProv is declining to publish its street address. The names, addresses, and other similar identifiable information for the convicted sex offender are being withheld for the same reason.
State records show the sex offender was convicted of molesting a female teenager and a younger boy, both of whom were known to him. State authorities have determined that he has a “moderate” risk of molesting someone again. (In law enforcement lingo, he is labeled as a Level II offender. Level III offenders are at the greatest risk of committing the same crime again, while Level I are at least likely to re-offend.)
Medeiros said children in a battered women’s shelter are particularly vulnerable because the male figure in their lives has either abandoned or abused them. They could easily be taken in by an adult male who showers them with kindness and approval, she said. It’s the last thing their mothers should have to worry about, she added. “They sure as heck don’t need their kids to walk down the block to Dunkin Donuts and encounter a sexual predator,” Medeiros said.
Her organization recently was successful in its push for a new state law that would ban any sex offender from working in environments where there are lots of children, including arcades, movie theaters, schools, and children’s hospitals. Medeiros said she now will contact the Attorney General’s office and look into legislation that would bar sex offenders from living near battered women’s shelters.
She said sex offenders should not live within a block or a tenth of a mile of those shelters. At a minimum, she said shelters should be notified of any offenders living nearby.
While Rhode Island may have a small school-only buffer zone, notifications are sometimes community organizations and residents located within a quarter to half a mile from the sex offender’s residence, according to Paula Kocon, the coordinator for the Rhode Island Sex Offender Community Notification Unit. Community organizations receive notifications for convicts with a moderate risk of re-offending. All residents are notified for offenders with a high risk.
The distance—a quarter to half a mile—varies by community and is set by the local police departments. Those who receive notifications are deemed likely to encounter the sex offender, according to Kocon.
In Woonsocket, six additional sex offenders live within half a mile of the battered women’s home.
They include three men convicted of molestation, three who sexually assaulted teenagers, and one who sexually assaulted a woman in her mid-20s. One of the sex offenders convicted of assaulting a teenager also was charged with raping a child and indecent assault and battery of an adult woman.
Woonsocket consistently ranks as the community with one of the highest ratios of sex offenders to residents in the state. In 2011, Woonsocket ranked at the top of the state with 10.4 offenders for every 5,000 residents. The statewide average then was 2.9 offenders for every 5,000 citizens. In 2013, Woonsocket still ranked near the top of the list, taking second place after Cranston.
Sojourner House actually owns two homes for abused women in Woonsocket. The house it bought in 2008 is used to provide longer-term or transitional housing for those women. It has owned a second house in the city at least since 2005. That is used as a temporary shelter for abused women. That home also has two sex offenders living within half a mile, state records show.
Sojourner House is currently facing a whistleblower lawsuit from a former employee, Lisa Fisher, the former director of residential services. In her suit, Fisher, who claims she was unjustly fired, asserts that the agency’s housing facilities are unsafe.
GoLocalProv submitted a series of questions directly to Sojourner House’s current executive director, Vanessa Volz. In particular, she was asked if the nonprofit believes Woonsocket is the safest location for the two homes and if it had been aware of the sex offenders living nearby.
Volz did not directly respond. Instead, Sojourner House spokesman Bill Fischer issued a statement touting the nonprofit’s 35-year history of serving over 50,000 domestic violence victims. “Sex offenders reside in many communities. The greater threat to victims of domestic violence occurs when their would-be abusers discover where they are living,” Fischer noted in the statement.
Fischer also noted that the lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year in Providence County Superior Court. But an amended complaint has been filed by Fisher. “A second motion to dismiss is now pending, and we will let that process take place in the courts,” Fischer said. The attorney for Fisher, Nicholas Gelfuso, declined to comment.
Medeiros said nonprofits that work with victims of crimes need more public oversight, especially because they often receive public funding. “They’re all going under the radar and they’re not being scrutinized at all,” Medeiros said. “They should be held to a higher standard.”
Stephen Beale can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @bealenews
Related Slideshow: Sojourner House: Safety and Financial Issues
Proximity to sex offenders is among the concerns raised about the management of a local nonprofit dedicated to helping abused women. Below is a breakdown of concerns that have been raised about the safety and financial health of the program.
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